KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -- Kansas Speedway is increasing the police presence for this weekend's NASCAR races after two explosions at the Boston Marathon left three dead and more than 170 wounded.

Track President Pat Warren said there have been several meetings since Monday's bombings between speedway staff and local authorities, and they in turn have spoken to officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to prepare for the race weekend.

Warren said the increased security will be noticeable, and that fans attending the Truck Series race Saturday and the Sprint Cup race Sunday should plan to arrive early.

''Some people don't remember that we were the second Cup race run after the events of Sept. 11,'' Warren said in a phone interview Tuesday. ''So our people have been trained under the highest security profile our nation has ever experienced.''

Warren said there are no plans to alter the gate policies at Kansas Speedway, such as adding metal detectors. He also said fans still would be allowed to bring in soft-sided coolers, though they will be searched as usual along with any bags brought into the facility.

More than 70,000 fans are expected for the Sprint Cup race on Sunday.

Warren said track officials also have discussed an incident during last weekend's race at Texas, where a man camping in the infield committed suicide during the Sprint Cup race.

Fort Worth police spokeswoman Cpl. Tracey Knight has said alcohol may have been a factor. Knight also said several people witnessed the event, but nobody was in danger.

Warren said officials will be on the lookout for concealed weapons, but acknowledged that ''we can't tear apart every vehicle or camper that will be on hand.''

''We're in the same situation Texas is in,'' Warren said. ''You can't bring a firearm into a sporting facility or venue, even with a permit. By law, those aren't allowed.''

The trick is the infield camping. How hard would it be to bring in several hundred pounds of explosives in a camper if they don't even search the vehicles? Authorities couldn't even tell from how low the camper would be riding. Don't fill the camper's water tank, hollow out the refrigerator, etc etc. A terrorist could save hundreds of pounds easily on even the smallest camper, even if a cursory search was made, which Iowa apparently will not be doing. That's the ball game right there.

Trained dogs could sniff that out pretty quick HT. (Bees may even be better at it) It may just be a necessary thing to allow a dog to walk around and inside of every vehicle allowed into the infield, no matter how long it takes.

michaeljohn wrote:crazy bombers figure nascar fans have a difficult time when their driver has a bad weekend, thats torture enuff, but at least they made an arrest today in boston

"Contrary to widespread reporting, no arrest has been made in connection with the Boston Marathon attack," Special Agent Greg Comcowich said in a statement.

The day of the attack the New York Post reported a 20 year old Saudi National was under arrest and under supervision at a local hospital. In the rush to be first to report the news, reporters have basically started making stuff up.

As bad as the infield would be to bomb.......its more likely (imo) that the stands or big fan area such as souvenir trailers would be a bigger target....hopefully lots of extra security measures have been taken.....

I also seen where that nutjob group Westboro Baptist Church is gonna picket the race....they were given a time to do so.....only from 8 to 10 am the day of the race....ironically thats the time least amt of fans will be there...lol....

tonycrazy wrote:As bad as the infield would be to bomb.......its more likely (imo) that the stands or big fan area such as souvenir trailers would be a bigger target....hopefully lots of extra security measures have been taken.....

I also seen where that nutjob group Westboro Baptist Church is gonna picket the race....they were given a time to do so.....only from 8 to 10 am the day of the race....ironically thats the time least amt of fans will be there...lol....

tonycrazy wrote:As bad as the infield would be to bomb.......its more likely (imo) that the stands or big fan area such as souvenir trailers would be a bigger target....hopefully lots of extra security measures have been taken.....

I also seen where that nutjob group Westboro Baptist Church is gonna picket the race....they were given a time to do so.....only from 8 to 10 am the day of the race....ironically thats the time least amt of fans will be there...lol....

tonycrazy wrote:As bad as the infield would be to bomb.......its more likely (imo) that the stands or big fan area such as souvenir trailers would be a bigger target....hopefully lots of extra security measures have been taken.....

I also seen where that nutjob group Westboro Baptist Church is gonna picket the race....they were given a time to do so.....only from 8 to 10 am the day of the race....ironically thats the time least amt of fans will be there...lol....

Schmoopy1000 wrote:I say the WBC people are only making themselves look like fools. Cant see how this protest will help them at all.

These are the same people that picket funerals of American Soldiers who died overseas. Their tolerance level of being treated as fools or worse seems to be very high. This will hardly be a drop in the bucket for them. Any publicity is good publicity for them.

Schmoopy1000 wrote:I say the WBC people are only making themselves look like fools. Cant see how this protest will help them at all.

These are the same people that picket funerals of American Soldiers who died overseas. Their tolerance level of being treated as fools or worse seems to be very high. This will hardly be a drop in the bucket for them. Any publicity is good publicity for them.

oh I seen some of that. Those people disgust me. How pathetically disrespectful.